Moving teeth intraorally using forces generated from permanent magnets has had little commercial success to date, primarily due to the complexity of conventional permanent magnet appliance systems, their large dimensions, their high cost, and their dependence, at least in part, upon patient compliance, which otherwise results in the patient playing with the appliance and possibly inactivating or destroying it because of its large dimensions and discomfort. Attachment of a known permanent magnet appliance to the dentition in the upper and lower jaws requires the use of either the main or the sectional arch wires, or both, in an unwieldy arrangement which is difficult to adjust properly and requires patient compliance to avoid inactivation or destruction. The magnetic force developed between the magnetic elements is controlled by bending the wires, to which the elements are connected in a precise way, so that the poles of the magnets are kept aligned to avoid eccentric movement. This has proven to be cumbersome in practice. Moreover, most conventional permanent magnet systems presently in use rely on a rectangular-shaped magnetic element which is encased in a steel sleeve. The sleeve is connected to the sectional wire through a separate fitting, such as, for example, an elongated tube projecting from the steel sleeve. This arrangement inherently results in a physical offset between the center of the magnet and the sectional wire, which creates a rotational bending moment tending to rotate the magnet about the sectional wire. To prevent buccal torquing in such an arrangement and to maintain proper alignment of the poles of the magnetic elements relative to one another, it was necessary to use a sectional wire of rectangular cross-section with a corresponding rectangular fitting, all of which is nonstandard. This resulted in a complex and costly permanent magnet appliance. Other magnetic designs use several large disk-shaped magnets that are uncomfortable, costly, and required considerable patient compliance, resulting in a high degree of non-acceptance.
Because of the recognized clinical advantages of permanent magnet orthodontics, there has been a long-sought need for an orthodontic appliance using small magnets, which can be implemented in a simple, unwieldy, and less costly manner in the treatment of orthodontic cases requiring molar or premolar distalization, which does not depend upon any patient compliance or assistance.